


Political Intrigue

by threspian



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, friends but I ship it, implied Zutara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23256739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threspian/pseuds/threspian
Summary: Katara and Zuko discuss politics and their respective roles.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	Political Intrigue

Full moons always made Katara restless, so it was no surprise that she spent the nights surrounding one idly wandering the Air Temple until she finally wore herself out. More surprising was that Zuko seemed to share some of her restless energy, which meant that she could regularly find him sitting near the fountain in the courtyard meditating deep into the night. Once she had realized that he honestly wasn’t using the time to plot the destruction of the Avatar, he simply became another facet of the temple. Eventually, one of them started talking, and the late-night meetings turned into a time for a sort of comfortable camaraderie that could never exist during the day.

This night was no other, and when Katara gave a small warning splash in the fountain, Zuko opened one eye and scooted over obligingly to let her sit next to him. Whether any words were exchanged varied on the night, but Katara took the opportunity to ask a question that had been bothering her for weeks.

“Who was that girl in Ba Sing Se? It seemed like you knew her pretty well.”

Zuko shifted uncomfortably. “That was my sister. Princess Azula. Second in line to the throne. Well, first in line now, after the whole…” he gestured to himself, “exiled forever thing.”

Katara blinked. “You’re the Fire Lord's  _ son _ ?”

“I never told you guys?” Zuko looked genuinely surprised. “I could have sworn it came up sometime when I was still chasing you around like an idiot.”

“Maybe it did. You said a lot of dumb stuff back then.” Katara bumped her shoulder against his with a grin. “I learned to ignore you pretty quickly. I do remember something about me and my brother being peasants, though?” She put a finger to her chin in mock-contemplation.

Zuko buried his face in his hands. “Do I ever get to make it up to you guys for that?”

“Don’t worry, you’ve proven yourself about a dozen times over since. I just remember finding it so funny, since my dad’s the chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Like, ‘if only he knew who he was talking to,’ but I doubt the Fire Nation would think highly of anybody in the Water Tribes, even the chief.”

Zuko paused for a moment, struggling for the right words. “You’re right. I didn’t have any respect for the other nations back then. You’ve all shown me how wrong I was to believe in the superiority of the Fire Nation.”

After a brief silence, Katara finally spoke. “If the war never happened, I wonder if we’d be seen as equals.”

“No way,” Zuko said with a grin of his own. When Katara shot him a nasty look, he quickly elaborated. “The Fire Nation values bending ability over everything else. The prodigy from the Water Tribes absolutely wins out over the firebender who had to learn sword fighting because his bending was so weak.”

“I’m not a prodigy!” Katara said, shocked. “Aang mastered waterbending way faster than me.”

“He’s also the Avatar, and he’d already mastered an element before,” Zuko said. “Within a few months, you went from never properly training before to holding your own against Azula, who might be the strongest firebender to ever live. Well, after Uncle. And both of them got years of training from the best private tutors money can buy. You became a master quicker than any record I’ve been able to find - and trust me, if there was a record anywhere near yours in the Fire Nation, I would have learned about it.”

Katara shrugged, a slight blush on her cheeks. “I still wouldn’t be considered equal to you.” At Zuko’s questioning look, she continued. “The Southern Water Tribe had to drop a lot of our traditions out of necessity, but the Northern Tribe is still incredibly patriarchal. Female benders there are only allowed to heal, not fight. And they’re not allowed any political power at all.”

“Maybe we’d trade nations when we got too sick of it. You could go show the Fire Nation what you were made of, and I could keep being terrible at politics.”

“You’re not terrible at politics,” Katara protested out of habit. “Well, okay, maybe you aren’t the best at speeches,” she admitted when Zuko raised an eyebrow. “But you’re a natural-born leader. Sokka’s great at making plans, but you’re the one that makes sure the rest of us get a vote. You’ve done more to keep Aang focused during lessons than I’ve ever been able to figure out, and everyone knows you’re Toph’s favorite person because you look after her while letting her be her own person. Plus, you’re the only one here I haven’t had to teach the concept of personal responsibility to, so there’s that.”

With Zuko now sporting a blush of his own, the two fell silent again. This time, it was Zuko who broke the silence. 

“So… equals?”

“Equals,” Katara met his outstretched hand with a grin, shaking on the agreement.

—-

“Hey, Katara?”

“What is it, Toph?”

“Can you leave my name out of your flirting next time? My room is right next to the courtyard and seeing as the whole place is made of stone I had way too clear of a view of the vomit-fest.”

“We weren’t flirting!”

“Heartbeats don’t lie, Sugar Queen.”

**Author's Note:**

> This idea snuck into my mind right as I was about to fall asleep and wouldn't leave me alone until it was written down. Please let me know if I should make any edits, I'm always looking to improve my work.


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